Isolated Genius
by BipolarMolar
Summary: A short MorMor one-shot where Sebastian realises just how much he means to Jim.


**Disclaimer: I make no money from this.**

**Well, my first foray into the murky mire that is Mormor. Hope you like. It was originally going to be a lot darker but I'm a sucker for happy endings. This is a fluffy-ish Mormor one-shot- complete. Let me know what you think!**

Jim Moriarty was never a kind boss. He never asked how Sebastian was feeling, never gave him the afternoon off if he was feeling unwell. There weren't health benefits and rewards, just the money, Sebastian's wage. But he did the job well enough and never asked for more.

He knew he was Jim's most trusted employee, sent not on general dogsbody tasks but actual missions, assassinations, proper expeditions that made Sebastian's heart race like mad and his adrenaline surge. Just what he needed. But the work wasn't all about shooting, and storming into buildings, it was about coping with Jim. Coping with his moods.

No matter how long a man had been in Jim's employment, one wrong move and he could dispose of as quickly as it took the oily Irishman to click his fingers. Sebastian learnt very quickly that he would have to follow orders, all the time, no questions asked, if he was to excel in this job, so he bit his tongue, held back arguments and incredulous remarks, and forced himself not to blink when Jim turned that dark, dead gaze up at him.

It might have looked humorous, the small, slim dark-haired man bossing the tall, muscled blond around, but Sebastian didn't care, he was smart enough to know Jim was cleverer than _everyone_- and that gave him power.

Sebastian began to kid himself that he was held in higher regard than the others, Jim's assembled ranks. Once, he screwed up- his mark got away unscathed and Sebastian was left standing on his own, to tell Jim he'd failed. Inches apart from Moriarty, that pale face turned to his with the cold brown eyes glinting dangerously, Sebastian had feared for his life. But then-

Jim slapped him. Just reached up and _thwack! _Sebastian felt the hot sting of flesh, heard the whip-crack noise and winced at the pain but…that was it. It could have gone far worse.

After that, Jim seemed even more comfortable around him, as if Sebastian patiently taking the slap had been what Jim had wanted all along.

But then there was Sherlock Holmes. And suddenly, Sebastian was bearing the brunt of Jim's ire. When Sherlock was playing nicely, as fascinated by Jim's games as Jim was by him, the consulting criminal would smile, spend hours huddled over a sea of sickly-glowing computers…but when the game _wasn't _going his way…

_Sebastian grunted as another blow rained upon him. Jim kept beating at his toned, heaving chest with manic fists, screeching in an anger Sebastian knew wasn't directed at him. It was all Sherlock's fault, Sebastian thought, as Jim scratched at Sebastian's face with his nails, shouting out expletives, Jim was just venting. Things had been fine before._

All Sebastian could hope for was that Jim would get tired of Holmes, and move onto something else. Holmes was too _frustrating_ to Moriarty, and Jim's moods were getting worse. He thought he could handle Jim; he really did, but then one night…

Sebastian was working late at one of Jim's many properties, a large warehouse that Jim had been using as a base of operations recently. Hunched over his blueprints, intently studying the schematics for a corporate building they planned to rob, Sebastian didn't hear Jim's footsteps, only realised he'd entered the room when his shadow fell across Sebastian's back.

"Boss?" Sebastian slowly raised his head. Something about Jim, his dark eyes, silent grace and features, had always seemed to hold something of a reptilian nature to Sebastian. So he treated Jim carefully, no sudden movements.

"If you…" Jim coughed, and Sebastian frowned unseeingly at his blueprints, the hoarse catch in Jim's voice unfamiliar. He still didn't look around.

"If you woke up and everyone was dead… I mean it looked like _everyone…_ in the world…was dead- what would you do?"

Sebastian turned around in his chair, for once; he was looking up into Jim's face. Immediately, warning bells rang in his brain- the sour whiff of beer on Jim's breath, the tousled hair, the stubble darkening his jaw. Perhaps the game with Holmes had been taking more out of Jim than Sebastian had first thought.

"I- I don't know. I could do anything- loot, set things on fire…walk down the street naked…"

To his relief, Jim cracked a smile at his joke, but his eyes slowly travelled down Sebastian's body ni a measuring way, and Sebastian wasn't sure he liked it.

"What would you do…once you'd done that?"

Sebastian thought. "Is it like I Am Legend? What was the global cause of death?"

Jim shook his head tiredly. "Not important."

"I'd...um, look for others, other people."

He knew he'd said the right thing when Jim nodded, albeit a little sadly, and clapped a hand down on the desk emphatically.

"You'd look for intelligent life. Someone to exist with," Seeing Sebastian's nod, Jim went on. "But what if- and this is the big question- the only person alive in the world- was your _very _worst enemy?"

The answer came quickly. "It wouldn't matter." As soon as he'd spoken, a flicker of insight fluttered in Sebastian's mind. "Is this about Holmes?"

"People…repulse me," Jim hiccupped and grimaced. "But I can't- I can't always forget. Oh, Sebby, when will science progress so that we can live as cyborgs, or brains in jars?"

Sebastian didn't answer that, not quite sure what Jim meant. He let the other man continue.

"I want Sherlock dead, Sebastian. Let's be clear about that. But…I don't know what I was doing before he came along…have you seen him, Seb? I don't mean on CCTV, ha, I mena in motion. That long coat, that hair, those eyes…"

"Boss," This could possibly be the worst thing Sebastian could say but he'd started now. "He's just flavour of the month, you can't lose sight of what you've spent years of your life creating- _this _network. Holmes just wants you behind bars and I _don't_ want that."

Perhaps his words had had some effect because Jim was looking at him strangely, looking at him differently. Like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

When Jim darted forward and grabbed a hold of Sebastian's collar, it was easy to be limp in his hold, expecting pain or icy scrutiny, but instead Jim pressed his mouth firmly onto Sebastian's, kissing him desperately, passionately- but surprisingly not painfully.

His body acted before his mind did and Sebastian found himself responding, kissing back just as urgently, barely even aware that he was doing it until Jim drew back with a new light shining in his dark eyes. "Seb," Jim told him. "You're not my equal and you never will be. I could get a lobotomy and still run rings around you but…you're mine." Jim smirked and leant in to kiss him again.


End file.
